The present disclosure relates generally to the processing of streaming delta-encoded data, and more particularly to the recording of streaming delta-encoded data.
Various compression techniques have been developed to enable efficient transmission of data streams such as video streams. One family of these compression techniques is referred to as delta encoding. In delta encoding, after encoding and transmitting a complete picture, referred to as an intraframe or I Frame, only the differences between subsequent pictures are encoded and transmitted. These differences are referred to as interframes, and in various compression protocols include predicted frames (P Frames), Bi-predictive frames (B Frames), and the like.
Different transport-layer protocols can be used to transport packets of delta-encoded data. For example, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) can be used. But because UDP does not guarantee reliability or ordering, it is necessary to transmit I Frames frequently in order to supply data missing due to lost frames. The use of UDP also poses significant security risks. Therefore UDP packets are generally not permitted to traverse the network firewalls employed by most businesses, rendering UDP unsuitable for business communications.
Another transport-layer protocol that can be used to transport packets of delta-encoded data is Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Because TCP provides reliable, in-order delivery of packets, it does not pose the security issues associated with UDP. In addition, it is only necessary to transmit one I Frame at the beginning of each stream of delta-encoded data.